President Donald Trump's second-term "Peace Through Strength" foreign policy could end up saving U.S. taxpayers a cool $326 billion over four years. That's the headline from a new report by the GOP-linked group Polaris National Security.
The 72-page analysis is a deep dive into what the Trump administration's approach to the world means for the federal budget. It compares the projected savings to a hypothetical second term under Biden-Harris, which the report says would have cost Americans an estimated $512 billion.
So how does the math work? The report says the Trump administration needed about $186 billion in investments to rebuild "deterrence," including overseas military operations and beefed-up border enforcement. But those investments are expected to pay off big time, leading to about $326 billion in net taxpayer savings over the president's term. That works out to about $2,500 per American household.
Where are the savings coming from? A big chunk is from the joint U.S. and NATO Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), which is projected to save taxpayers $258 billion. Then there's the administration's push to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, which is expected to prevent an estimated $158 billion in costs. The report also credits the restructuring of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with saving nearly $47 billion.
And it's not just about cutting costs. The report suggests that by brokering an end to the war in Gaza, securing a U.S.-Houthi ceasefire, and ending Iran's projected containment burden, the Trump administration is forecast to save about $49 billion in taxpayer costs that a second Biden-Harris term would have racked up.
Polaris also notes that these figures don't even include several unquantified costs that Trump's foreign policy may have avoided. Think prolonged counter-drug expenditures if former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had stayed in power, Red Sea shipping disruptions, or the risks of a nuclear-armed Iran.
